Been listening to the radio (WNYC, New York’s major public radio station), and it occurred to me that a couple of the pieces I’ve heard might be of interest to the Fleen audience.

On the one hand, a discussion about the works of Tove Jansson, with her niece and primary English translator. On the other, still going on (as this is being drafted) on the crowd-funding model for artistic endeavours, including the thoughts of an IP lawyer; this one is skewed more to the musical end of things, but a primary focus is Kickstarter, so still of interest to at least some of you. The art of informative conversation is not dead.

• Also of great interest is a one-sided conversation (and that’s not meant pejoratively — it’s a single voice, going in one direction, but meant to be a collaborative statement, at least in my reading) from Chris Onstad, on the topic of the sporadic nature of Achewood of late. It starts on the need to not repeat and the need to recharge, but I found the most telling part in the middle:
  

  One thing that’s always made me a bit sad is how Internet presentation seems to devalue content. So much art, writing, and news is suddenly available to us that each piece seems nearly a throwaway, lost in the gullet of our now-insatiable appetite for information. Here in the future, everyone is famous for 15kb. Fifteen reTweets. Fifteen LOLs. Should I work fifteen hours on something that will take fifteen seconds to read? The answer is yes, of course, because I love what I do, but after nearly a decade one wonders if one couldn’t do more for people with that time. Create greater and lengthier entertainment. I’d like to focus more on prose; despite the heavy foot I seem to have planted in the comics world, perhaps I can balance both by shifting the weight a bit. Some might count themselves kings of infinite space when bounded in the nutshell of six panels, but personally I’m finding it a bit cramped.

  So there’s our answer — Onstad, like anybody who creates, is entitled to work at his own pace, to his own standards, and following his own muse. We who consume his work so readily — for free! — can bitch all we like, but it won’t make the RSS feed go ping! any quicker. And let’s be honest, we will bitch, but I hope that the vast majority of us do so because we wish more, in whatever form we can get.

  The act of creation is fraught with infinitely more toil and exposure than the curation that we who comment will ever expend, and when we are freely given those creations, our primary reaction should be a sense of gratitude first and foremost. We can surely debate the quality and form of the work, but we should not take it for granted.

  I will always keep a feed open for Achewood, and hope that Onstad finds the form he wants to work in with ease. And also that he gets his store back up, as I wish to provide him money in exchange for goods (cough Achewood Cookbook II, cough)¹.

• Finally, I want to acknowledge all of the terrific conversation that was had yesterday, as side-effect of the most light-hearted and fun wedding I’ve ever attended (and I include my own in that assessment). When I grow up, I want to be Chris Hastings and/or Carly Monardo — either one, they’re both stellar people who deserve all the happiness that they bring each other, and I was honored to witness their day of joy.

  For those wishing to get a peek at what it was like, it was all over yesterday’s twitterfeeds for a significant slice of webcomickers. And future brides, take a tip from Carly — nothing keeps you on your feet for a long day of processing, dancing, visiting, receiving, and fun like a pair of Chucks.

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¹ When you’ve got the time, it’s cool; Chris Onstad is not my bitch.